Body boards for riding waves and other recreational sports boards made of foam or other floatation material are known in the prior art. In general, such sports boards are composed of a number of layers thermally or adhesively bonded together. The boards generally have a closed-cell foam core covered by one or more layers adhesively or thermally bonded to the core.
A number of laminated boards are known in the prior art and a number of methods of laminating or bonding the various layers of the board together are known. Examples of such boards and methods of laminating them are shown and disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,211,593, 5,658,179, 5,503,921, 4,850,913 and 5,275,860. In bonding the layers together it is desirable to provide a bond between two layers which is stronger than the strength of the layers themselves.
Boards and methods of manufacturing them known in the prior art have a number of deficiencies. It is also known in the prior art that an adhesive may be used to bond the various layers together. This method of bonding has a number of drawbacks, including the adverse affect of solvent vapors released into the air during the manufacturing process and the added weight to the board of an adhesive joint. In addition, many conventional adhesives eventually deteriorate from the adverse affect of salt water on the adhesive over time, causing delamination.
It is also known that heat may be used to bond the various layers together. However, boards known in the prior art generally require that the thermal laminating process by which they are made occur at very high and exact temperatures in order to properly bond the layers. The requirement for a high and exact bonding temperature necessitates a more elaborate laminating process and can cause undesirable shrinkage of the layers. This type of bonding is especially difficult when the layers are of different materials having different characteristics.
Accordingly, there is a need for a thermally laminated foam board with improved bonding between layers of different polymeric materials having different thermal characteristics.